Art journal page: Rainbow

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! I hope your day is as special as you are!

Today I am sharing an art journal page I made yesterday.

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Quote: “If you love the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain”

The most asked question on my comments and emails is where do I find inspiration. Well, when I want to make an art journal I usually start from a quote I like. I have a little notepad where I write them down and wait in the queue to come to life. Now, in this page, I also got inspiration from a new book I got called “Collage Couture” by Julie Nutting. You’ll see it in the video too.

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Things I love about this page? The yellow boots and skirt, the lace, the fact that the word “rainbow” has seven letters just like it’s colors, the seven triangles in the umbrella, the stitched letters…

Not sure if you can see it in the photos but the umbrella and her boots are glossy!

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These are chipboard letters that I colored using my distress paints. A must have by the way! Hope they come in more colors just like the ink pads. I also added some faux – stitching at the end to make them stand out from the background.

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Drawing the girl was easy using the instructions on the book. There is a “13 lines” rule as I call it, that makes everything super simple and fast.

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You can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel. Before you start GRAB YOUR COFFEE… it’s 20 minutes long after lots of editing!

 

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Art journaling is so rewarding! I just love making pages. It is a bit overwhelming at first when you start with the two blank pages looking at you but once you put the first layer of color everything starts to flow. I encourage you to start one! It’s so much fun :)

Have a great day,

Vicky

How-to video: Hello crafty friend

Hi! I am back home and sharing a new card and a how-to video. I had fun playing around with my dylusions sprays. You can create awesome backgrounds super fast and here is a card every crafty friend of yours would appreciate!!!IMG_2980

If you look closely, those white dots are made using embossing paste which is a great way to add dimension to your projects

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I used sticky-back canvas and that easel came to life. I also love the ghost effect made using water on the background. Here is another closer look

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You can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel

Supplies:


Thank you all for visiting today. Have a creative week!

Happy Easter

Note: this is a scheduled post.

Hi everyone and Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates Easter today. Greek Orthodox Easter is today and I am away from home on vacation with extended family. Sorry, no video today. I’ll post it during the week.

Did you know that we also dye eggs for Easter, but they have to be red? These red eggs become part of a game where children try to crack one another’s eggs. This game represents Christ breaking from the tomb, and the red color of the eggs represents the blood and renewal of Christ. If you are into organic/biological foods here is an older post I made on how I dye the eggs.

Easter for kids also means a decorated candle. Every kid gets one from their godparents and they take it with them in Church on Saturday night. Once we light the candles we have to bring the light home, keeping the flame burning. This will bring good luck to our homes. Wanna see how those candles look like?!

Easter in Greece means two weeks off school so we all went to Afissos, a traditional Greek village by the sea.

Here are a couple of photos:

Gorgeous, I know!!! So we’ll be staying here for a few days. Not sure about the internet access but I don’t think I’ll use it even if I have it!

Have a great weekend!!!!

 

How-to video: Nautical cards

Mid-week post with how-to video today! And guess what? Two cards in one video! Love it when I find the time to post during the week.

Yesterday, I was playing with a new summer set by “Paper Smootches” and these are the two cards I came up with:

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Love the nautical look on them! Here are a couple of close-ups

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I had so many ideas for cards using this stamp set … I think one day I might challenge my self and try to make a dozen of cards using one stamp set… what do you think? It would be fun!

Anyway, you can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel. Oh and my little Maria, will show you in the video what she did while crafting next to me.  Have fun :)

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A little chattering: Do you ever lose tools in your craft room? I keep everything neat, clean and well organized but it happens to me all the time. The last month, I lost my favorite “honey-bee” scissors. You know how much I love cutting… I freaked out… disaster! So I had to order another one. It arrived yesterday. And guess what?! I found my old one today, it was in my daughter’s desk between her markers. Why do you always find your lost things once you get to replace them?!

Good news? Now I have TWO of my favorite scissors! Ha!

I am entering the above couple of cards on the Paper Smooches SPARKS “anything goes” challenge.

Giveaway winner:

The random winner of my “SimonSaysStamp May Card kit” is Pam Nutting. Pam I’ve emailed you.

Have a creative week my friends!

SimonSaysStamp blog hop winner!

The lucky winner who gets a $50 gift certificate to SimonSaysStamp is….

Donna R and here is her comment:

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Congratulations Donna! Your name is already in the SimonSaysStamp blog with the rest of the winners. You will receive your voucher shortly.

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Thank you all for joining the fun and for all the lovely comments you took the time to write me on the blog hop post!

How-to video: Ocean of love

Hi ladies! Guess what? I am on a two weeks vacation. Yeah! Schools are out due to Easter holidays.What? Easter? Yes, I know most of you have already celebrated but Orthodox Easter in next Sunday May 5th.

Anyway, I have new products in the house… tons of new stamps and other goodies! So I had to use one of the most fun sets I got. Here is a happy summer card:

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I made the underwater background using my distress inks and check out that hook that holds the tag! I made it out of wire. I also added lots of details using enamel and glossy accents.

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You can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel

Supplies:


Thank you all for visiting today! I’ll be back mid-week with another video and with the winner announcement of SimonSaysStamp May Card kit that I am giving away.

How-to video and giveaway

Hi crafters, hope you are having a great week!

Today I am sharing another card I created using the SimonSaysStamp May Card kit. I hope you had a chance to order, cause from what I’ve seen it’s already sold out. No wonder! Those kits are great value.

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Isn’t it cute? Love the lace at the bottom and the vellum window.

Here is a closer look. The hearts are covered with patterned paper and glossy accents

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and here is the sentiment on the inside

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You can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel

Supplies:


Giveaway: May Card kit has been SOLD OUT! But I am giving away one!!! So enter your name and details below for a chance to win it. You don’t need to have a blog to enter.


How-to video : You’re the greatest

Sunday is here and it’s time for the weekly video!

Have you all seen the new May Card kit by SimonSaysStamp? It’s gorgeous!!! Check my latest post HERE if you haven’t, and join the blog hop for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to SimonSaysStamp. You can subscribe to Simon Says Stamp’s monthly card kits for just $19.95 plus S&H.  Every kit is a great value and you can make tons of cards using it. If you decide to get the kit make sure you do it ASAP because the latest few kits were sold out.

Also, stay tuned …I’ll be giving away one kit to a lucky reader on my next post.

Today, I am sharing another card I made, to get you inspired.

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And here is a closer look to those dimensional flowers. I used the exact same technique to make the flowers on Friday’s card. The only difference is that in this I am paper piecing while on Friday’s I used my copic markers to color the roses.

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and here is a closer look to the sentiment. That tag was included in the kit!

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You can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel

Supplies:


Thank you all for visiting! I’ll be back mid-week with another video and a giveaway.

Until then BE CREATIVE!

 

SimonSaysStamp May Card kit blog hop

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Welcome to the last stop of the SimonSaysStamp Card kit blog hop! You must be arriving here from the amazingly talented Sarah Moerman. If not, make sure you don’t miss anything by starting HERE.

Have you all seen the “May Flowers” card kit?! It’s the best way to welcome spring, check out the gorgeous paper collection included as well as the lovely stamp set! It also comes with tons of other goodies to use such as chipboard hearts, ribbons, tags and even liquid pearls!

You can subscribe to Simon Says Stamp’s monthly card kits for just $19.95 plus S&H.  Every kit is a great value and you can make tons of cards using it. The last few months the kits have sold out, so make sure you order ASAP.

When I saw the stamp set I fell in love with it! Red roses are my favorite flowers, so here is a Clean and Simple card I came up with

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I stamped the images and colored them with copics. I did a lot of paper piecing and the flowers are dimensional, as well as the leaves. Here is a closer look

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and here is another close-up

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Giveaway:

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Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50.00 gift certificate to one lucky commenter on every blog in the hop!!! That’s nine chances to win and a total of $450.00 worth of prizes!! So make sure you comment to every blog along the hop to be entered in the random drawings. The giveaways will stay open until Thursday April 25/13 at 11:59pm EST and the winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Friday April 26/13!

Thank you for visiting my blog today! This was the last stop on the hop. If you encountered any broken links, you can head back to the Simon Says Stamp blog here for a full list of participants.

Happy Hopping!! ;-)

Art journal page: Reading

Happy Sunday! Today I am back with a new art journal page.

I had this quote on my notebook Reading gives us some place to go, when we have to stay where we are. The main idea was to make a layout with a stack of books and some travel themed accents. So here is what I came up with!

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Including breaks it took me a whole day to finish it, but I had such a creative Saturday. The kids were crafting next to me too and you’ll see little hands appear in the video! Fun!

When I started art journaling I watched every related video on YouTube. I learned so much and these are my favorite ladies: Dyan Reaveley, Christy Tomlinson, france papillon, RachO113

They all share so much info for all the different mediums and techniques. But in the end you need to find your own style. So what I am doing is a cardmaker’s approach, I guess. I can’t stay away from my stamps, I love paper piecing and distressing. So all these are incorporated in my page. Also I am not a “messy” or “go with the flow” artist. I like to think ahead and to have a theme on my layouts. Just like I do with my cards, I follow the general idea but things might change in the process.

Saying all that… keep this in mind:

This is your art journal, there are no rules! Make it as messy or as neat as you like! Just put your ideas on paper and have fun!

And I sure had fun! There are moments that makes your crafty heart so happy when you do such pages! Like when I used the modelling paste or when I distressed that little piece of paper with the quote… FUN ! FUN! FUN!

Here are some close-ups:

The books: took me ages to make those paper strips look like books… I still wonder if they do! ha!

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The globe: I googled for vintage globes and printed out on a 6×6 patterned paper.

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The letters: I used a stencil and modelling paste. They are dimensional and gorgeous! I am in love with modelling paste!!!

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The quote: I used every possible distressing technique on the note. All book lovers will agree with me that the quote is so true!

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You can enjoy the video below or at my YouTube channel

Supplies:


Thank you all for visiting ! Have a creative week my friends :)